I really don't think so. Several studies have indicated that there is a possible viral connection, and the immune system is much more affected by the sugar in the diet than it is by fat. For example, one of the standard recommendations for severe yeast overgrowth is to cut sugar out of the diet.

And certain natural fats, because of their high vitamin content, such as the vitamin E in red palm oil or the vitamins A,D, and K3 in grassfed butter, are potent antioxidants. Some natural fats even have antiviral properties because of the type of medium chain fatty acids they contain: coconut oil is the main one, with an average of 57% of its fatty acids being lauric acid, which several independent studies from major medical facilities, such as the CDC, showing it to be effective against 29 classes of viruses.

The low-fat, low-cholesterol diet theory is usually thought of as more connected to heart disease than to cancer. Even that connection is pretty controversial. There are well-done studies that don't support it. It seems that the cholesterol connection is more corollary than causal. Skeptics believe that the presence of cholesterol in heart damage found in autopsies is like blaming firemen for the fire, because they're always found at the scene.

One of the very biggest problems with studies on food and health is that the great majority of the time, there are not good controls as to the quality of the food. No distinction is made between mass-produced, grainfed beef, which has several major differences from organic, pasture-fed beef: Grainfed cows are slaughtered most of the time well before they turn a year old, while free-range cows are slaughtered between 18 months and 3 years, on average: they're older and have different hormones in their systems. Grainfed cows are exposed to a lot of GMO feed, the implications of which are still not understood; grassfed cows aren't. Feedlot cows have to be given many antibiotics to keep them healthy and growth hormones to get them big enough to slaughter quickly; free-range cows don't. As a result, free-range cows have a different fatty acid profile, more like wild salmon with all the good omega 3s, then feedlot cows; they also have more vitamins in their meat and milk.

Yet many studies on cancer and heart disease do not make any distinction whatsoever, and then say the findings apply to all red meat--or the media makes the assumption the findings apply to all red meat. It just isn't so. And if then the next studies take the previous study's finding as a basic assumption, it's fatally flawed, and people wonder why the science doesn't make sense or is contradictory.

If you are concerned about cancer, heart disease, your weight or your general over-all well-being, your best bet is to eat clean: whole, natural foods; not too much of any one thing; foods raised the traditional way for whatever it is: free-range chickens, cows and pigs; fats and oils you could produce in your own kitchen if you had the space by pressing olives or churning cream or chopping up coconuts and letting them sit overnight in water so the oil would come to the top. Not things that require a degree in food engineering to produce, and a light industrial facility.
Source(s):
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/import_sat_fat.html -- The Importance of Saturated Fats to Biological Functions by Dr. Mary Enig, leading biolipidologist

http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/oiling.html -- The Oiling of America, by Dr. Enig -- includes information on bad studies

http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut-oil-studies.html -- Dr. Enig looks at various studies

http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut-antimicrobial.html Dr. Enig looks at various studies

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